80 swimmers ready for Burnham-On-Sea's annual Stert Island Swim

Published: August 12, 2007
80 swimmers ready for Burnham-On-Sea's annual Stert Island Swim

Eighty swimmers will take to the sea from Burnham beach on Sunday morning (August 19th) when the annual Stert Island Swim gets underway.

There has been so much interest from participants across the west country this year that there is a waiting list of swimmers wanting to take part.

"The list of entrants was slow to start off with, but has picked up in recent weeks. We've now got our full allocation of 80 swimmers plus a waiting list of around 5-10 people," said a spokesman for Sedgemoor District Council, which runs the popular event.

The event is also very popular with spectators and over 3,000 people regularly line The Esplanade to watch and cheer on the swimmers.

There will also be a street market on the Esplanade from 10.00am – 4.00pm with entertainment from the BEES, The Monarchs Gymnastic Team and a roving Minstrel. Burnham Tourist Information Centre will also be running children's activities, including the popular Esplanade Quiz and a word search.

The event is organised and supported by Burnham and Highbridge Town Council, English Nature, the Burnham Hovercraft (BARB), RNLI and Somerfields in Highbridge and Burnham.

The 2400m event sees swimmers race to Stert Island and back and is due to start at around 10.30am.

"The challenge is not so much the distance, but the water conditions, which include tricky currents, cold water and the nearly nil visibility that the swimmers have to brave. It can only be swum at on a neep tide, where there is high water for a maximum length of time," said organiser Linda Krause Davies.

The oldest participant will be 73-year-old Burnham resident, Roger Venner, who has competed in every year since the swim was revived in 2000.